TE TAONGA O TAKU NGÄKAU MEDIA RELEASE
Ko te taonga o taku ngäkau ko taku mokopuna e
He mokopuna korikori, hei aha hei aha ra
Ko te mea nui ko te aroha
Kaua e patu i taku mokopuna
Me awhi awhi mai taku mokopuna korikori e
Na Manawakore Leach
Koianei te ito o tënei pakipumeka o ‘Te Taonga o Taku Ngäkau’. He tirohanga tënei ki roto i te ao e noho nei tätau, me
ngä tini pëhitanga kua ühia ki runga i o tätau whänau na te urunga mai o ngä whakapono, whakahaere, whakaaro ränei o iwi
kee ä nawai ra kua rereke te noho a ngä whänau, ngä hapü, me ngä iwi i naianei. Heoi ka noho ko ngä whakaringaringa, me
ngä whakawaewae hai whakahere.
‘Te Taonga o Taku Ngäkau’ is a one hour documentary that explores tamariki Mäori as taonga within our whänau, hapü and
iwi. Presented by Tere Harrison, ‘Te Taonga o Taku Ngäkau is a Mäori view of Mäori childrearing. Interviewing Mäori
experts in the field Tere gathers knowledge about the role and position of tamariki Mäori within Mäori society. Each
person interviewed affirmed tikanga related to childrearing was grounded in the notion that our tüpuna believed and
lived with the concept of ‘he taonga te tamaiti’.
‘Te Taonga o Taku Ngäkau’ is a documentary that challenges the idea that it is Mäori to smack or beat our children and
as such it is a documentary that will be controversial in that it asserts that the position of tamariki Mäori, as Rose
Pere states, is seen within the kupu itself ‘tama’ ‘ariki’.1
‘Te Taonga o Taku Ngäkau’ is the first documentary to take a Kaupapa Mäori approach to understanding the tikanga related
to Mäori childrearing. ‘Te Taonga o Taku Ngäkau’ screens on Wednesday April 30th at 8.30pm on Mäori Television.
ENDS
1 Pere, R. 1991 Te Wheke: A Celebration of Infinite Wisdom, Gisborne, Ao Ako Learning, New Zealand